Gold Winner The Canteen Silver Winner The Coastal Cafe Bronze Winner Bagel Montreal Style “The Hangover is an OG,” says chef Renée Lavallée of the sammy that’s been on The Canteen’s menu since day one: Housemade bagel. Oulton’s bacon. Avocado cream. Local egg. The kind of yoke that’s probably (most definitely) going to drip down […]
The Canteen
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Caesar
Gold Winner The Canteen Silver Winner Stubborn Goat Gastropub Bronze Winner Mic Mac Bar & Grill “I knew it was good, but we’re not the kind of place that has a meal on its Caesar,” says The Canteen’s Renée Lavallée of the first-ever win for her restaurant’s morning cocktail. A recipe written by the Clever […]
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Chef
Gold Winner Renée Lavallée, The Canteen Silver Winner Annie Brace Lavoie, Bar Kismet Bronze Winner Stephanie Ogilvie, Chives Canadian Bistro “I’m always flabbergasted because I don’t feel like I deserve it, there’s so much talent out there,” says your Best Chef for the third consecutive year, Renée Lavallée. She squirms a little while her husband […]
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Chowder
Gold Winner The Canteen Silver Winner Esquire Restaurant Bronze Winner Evan’s Fresh Seafoods Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. And with each bowl boasting mouthfuls of both smoked haddock and smoked bacon, it’s not overly surprising Renée Lavallée’s chowder remains one of the hottest and most-ordered dishes on her menu, and is the city’s gold-winner for […]
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Dartmouth Restaurant
Gold Winner The Canteen Silver Winner Mic Mac Bar & Grill Bronze Winner The Wooden Monkey Business and life partners Renée Lavallée and Doug Townsend may not be from Dartmouth, but they’ve certainly made it home over the last 15 years. While The Canteen takes home nine (yes, nine) Best of Halifax awards this year, […]
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Restaurant
Gold Winner The Canteen Silver Winner The Bicycle Thief Bronze Winner 2 Doors Down Food + Wine Renée Lavallée and Doug Townsend’s minds are blown. “We try to eat out on a regular basis—we know the amazing restaurants, the Bar Kismets, the EDNAs,” says Lavallée via speakerphone. She lovingly calls The Canteen “just a little […]
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Salad
Gold Winner The Canteen Silver Winner enVie – A Vegan Kitchen Bronze Winner Ristorante a Mano Hall of fame Pete’s Frootique and Fine Foods “I love making salads, I love cold food, I love garde manger,” Renée Lavallée says emphatically when prodded about her award-winning greens, pointing out that the win might have something to […]
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Sandwich
Gold Winner The Canteen Silver Winner Italian Market Bronze Winner Indochine Banh Mi When The Canteen moved from its little sandwich counter on Ochterloney to a sunny, sit-down family restaurant on Portland in 2017, people were pumped. But something was missing. “It was one of those situations, we weren’t delivering on the takeout side of […]
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Use Of Local Ingredients
Gold Winner The Canteen Silver Winner The Wooden Monkey, Halifax Bronze Winner EDNA Renée Lavallée loves to cook with lemons and olive oil, but not as much as she loves her Saturday farmers’ market run. The Canteen’s chef and owner shouts out local producers like Ted Hutten, Tap Root Farms, Oulton’s and Noggins for helping […]
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Dartmouth Restaurant
Gold Winner The Canteen Silver Winner Mic Mac Bar and Grill Bronze Winner The Wooden Monkey “It’s been a big a year on the darkside, particularly on Portland Street, it’s amazing to see the changes since we’ve moved to Portland Street,” says Canteen co-owner Doug Townsend, who’s also chef Reneé Lavallée’s husband. “The quality and […]
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Chef
Gold Winner Renée Lavallée, The Canteen Silver Winner Annie Brace-Lavoie, Bar Kismet Bronze Winner Andy Hay, Andy’s East Coast Kitchen It was a pretty incredible nominees list for this year’s Best Chef category, with six of seven standouts being women—an unfortunate rarity in this readers’ survey—and five first-time noms. It’s a repeat win for Reneé […]
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Breakfast Sandwich
Gold Winner The Coastal Cafe Silver Winner The Canteen Bronze Winner The Ardmore Tea Room We added this new category to the roster in 2018, but it’s an old favourite who takes home the honours. After 11 years of serving “breakfast, brunch, whatever” the itty-bitty Coastal Cafe—known for its eternal packedness and incredible, creative brunch […]
